Of Mice and Men

1. Biographical information :
The name of the author is John Steinbeck. He was born on the 27th of February,1902 in Salinas, California. He died in New York City, United States on the 20th of December in 1968, when he was 66 years old.

> Some facts about John Steinbeck’s life that seem important to me :

* John Steinbeck was of German and Irish origin.

* He went to Vietnam in 1967 during the Vietnam War to report on it.

* He died of heart problems and he was cremated and his urn of ashes were buried.

* He married 3 times; he divorced his wife Carol Henning in 1943 and married Gwyndolyn Conger. They had 2 sons (Thomas Myles and John Steinbeck IV). In 1948 they divorced and in 1950, he married Elaine Scott and they remained married till Steinbeck’s death.

* John Steinbeck wrote a total of 27 novels

* He received a total of 17 awards and honors.

* John Steinbeck has his own museum called The National Steinbeck Center

> Other literary works written by Steinbeck John;
- Cup of Gold (1927)
- The Pastures of Heaven (1932)
- The Red Pony (1933)
- To a God Unknown (1933)
- Tortilla Flat (1935)
- In Dubious Battle (1936)
- Of Mice and Men (1937)
- The Long Valley (1938)
- The Grapes of Wrath (1939)
- The Forgotten Village (1941)
- Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research (1941)
- The Moon Is Down (1942)
- Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team (1942)
- Cannery Row (1945)
- The Wayward Bus (1947)
- The Pearl (1947)
- A Russian Journal (1948)
- Burning Bright (1950)
- The Log from the Sea of Cortez (1951)
- East of Eden (1952)
- Sweet Thursday (1954)
- The Short Reign of Pippin IV: A Fabrication (1957)
- Once There Was A War (1958)
- The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)
- Travels with Charley: In Search of America (1962)
- America and Americans (1966)
- Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters (1969)
- Viva Zapata! (1975)
- The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976)
- Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath (1989)


2. Bibliographical information :
- The novel is situated in the thirties. ( I think it’s somewhere around the autumn because they are harvesting and there is nothing said about rain or bad weather). George and Lennie lived during the Great Depression in America, 1930s. John Steinbeck wrote this book in 1937, so in the same period which the novel is situated.

- Summary :
The story is about two poor workers, George and Lennie, who travel together to find work. Lastly they ran from their job in Weed because Lennie touched a ladies dress. Their dream is having their own farm and keep rabbits and other animals when they have saved enough money. Lennie is a large man who doesn’t know his own strength and he is also childlike, simple and easily forgetful. His friend Georges is smart and a hard worker who takes care of him. When they were going to a ranch, hoping to find work, they slept in the clearing for one night. They came to the bunkhouse of the ranch the next day and they got the work. Soon they met the other people who also worked there. Then Curley, the son of the boss, came in. He is mean and a lightweight-boxer. He hates big guys because he is small himself. So when he saw Lennie, he looked aggressive and after he was also rude against Lennie. He even had a fight with Lennie, where Curley punched Lennie a few times in the face. Lennie took Curley’s hand and crushed it because he tried to stop Curley. When Curley went to the doctor, he said that his hand was trapped in a machine. He said this because he was known as a “strong” man and he didn’t want to look stupid and weak. One day Lennie sat in the barn playing with one of the puppies. He killed it of course because he pet it too hard. Then Curley’s wife came in, but Lennie tries not to speak to her, but after she comes closer to him. She allowed him to touch her hair , but he touched it too hard. She began to scream because he was hurting him. Lennie held his hand on her mound to stop her screaming and he pulled her head, but he did it too hard and he broke her neck and she died. So Lennie returned to the clearing where they had stayed for a night. He hid in the bushes and wait for George to come. He went there because George told him to go there if he encounters any trouble while working at the ranch. Then Candy finds the body and he tells George. They know that Curley will kill Lennie if he finds him first. George tells the men that Lennie went south because they came from the north. George goes into the woods with the others. He found Lennie first and made him feel comforted and hopeful. Lennie asks him to tell the story of their farm and George begins to talk. The noises of the men in the woods come closer and George tells Lennie to take off his hat and look across the river while he describes their farm. Then he raises Carlsons’s Luger and shoots Lennie in the back of his head. He did this because otherwise the others would have killed him much more painfully. When the men arrives, Carlson asks George what there happened. George let them believe that he wrestled the gun from Lennie and shot him with it.


- My opinion ;
I liked the novel because it was a good book with a good story. Two friends who travel together to find work. The smarter one who takes care of his friend and after has to shoot him because he doesn’t want that he will get killed in a horrible way for what he had done. The author used a lot of dialect language in the conversations. It was sometimes difficult to understand what they were saying but I found that it was funny. It was also funny to read how Lennie listens to Crooks’ problems that he actually doesn’t understands at all. The story also tells about racism, the difference between black and white. Crooks is the only black guy and he has to sleep apart in his own shed next to the bunkhouse. I liked the saddest part, for me, the most when George had to shoot Lennie for his own good, because I think it’s very hard to kill your best friend if you don’t have another choice… So I enjoyed reading this book and it was a different theme that I never had read before.